Why do you suspect your co-worker feels threatened? Is it like the homophobe version of "threatened?" Maybe, deep down, he wants a thick accent and to have a tough time communicating? 
I think you explained it. Communication difficulties can be frustrating. It subverts normal everyday processes. Verbal issues by phone pretty much wipe out the alternatives. No pictures, no hand gestures. Granted, patience with this sort of issue is part of customer service, but people will vent. Imagine reps on call clocks where efficient communication has a direct effect on their income. Argh.
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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
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